Saturday, April 24, 2010

Charities I believe in.


Two things I strongly believe need more recognition and I would work hard to raise money for would be The Down's Syndrome Association and The National Deaf Children's Society. I have two younger cousins now who have these things. Lyndsie who is now eleven was diagnosed with Down’s syndrome when she was born, it was hard to hear but her parent’s handled it and are still handling the challenges that are thrown at them. Down's syndrome is a condition in which extra genetic material causes delays in the way a child develops, both mentally and physically. It affects about 1 in every 800 babies. DS affects kids' ability to learn in different ways, but most have mild to moderate intellectual impairment. Kids with DS can learn, and are capable of developing skills throughout their lives. They reach goals at a different pace which is why it's important not to compare a child with DS against typically developing siblings or even other children with the condition. Children with DS can also have health problems, most commonly congenital heart defect. I would want to bring more attention to this cause because when Lyndsie was diagnosed it was hard for her parent’s to find a lot of information about the subject, which no one should have to go through. People should be able to have enough information so they aren’t going in blind.
Six years after they had Lyndsie my cousins had a third child, Jordan who was born completely deaf. They had surgery for Jordan and had implants put in his head that work like hearing aids. He puts the device up to his head and it’s like a magnet to the devices inside his head, he turns it on and he can hear perfectly. Or he can not put them on at all and he can't hear a thing. Again, it was hard to find a lot of sign language classes, and schooling was an issue for Jordan. They live in Marysville and he has to ride a bus to Columbus everyday to go to school, because the schools in Marysville no one knew sign language and couldn’t communicate with him. Even though he can hear with his implants in, he has to choose to do that. He was born deaf and he stays deaf most of the time, he doesn’t really like his hearing aids and no one can force that on him. So therefore he must go to Columbus everyday. I would want to help raise money for families so they can have the option to have the very expensive surgery to have the implants put in so they can have that option to go both ways. Also to help bring more attention to the deaf, so we can all have a way to communicate and teachers can be taught basic sign language in Elementary until kids get used to reading lips.
If I had $20,000 and six months, $10,000 each would go to the Down's Syndrome Association and the National Deaf Children's Society, to help each foundation do more research on how to diagnose these conditions faster, and to help find ways for families to be more aware and how to handle it.

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